Wheel-and-axle coupling



(No Model.)

A. B. CARTER.

WHEEL AND AXLE GOUPLING.

No. 324,654. Patented Aug. 18, 1885.

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d yf//////// ALBA. IERIGGS CARTER, OF GREAT FALLS, NEV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO THE EU EKA AXLE COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

WHEEL-AND-AXLE COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,654, dated August 18, 1885.

y Application filed October 23, i884. (No model.)

o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBA Beides CARTER, of Great Fa-lls, county of Stratford, State of New Hampshire, have invented an improvement inWheel-and-Axle Couplings, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specificat-ion, likelettcrs on the drawings representing like parts.

ro Myinvcntion relates toadevice for fastening a wheel upon an axle, and is intended as an improvement on a wheel-and-axle coupling of the class shown in Letters Patent No. 301,478, granted lo me July 8, 1884. In the said patent t5 the arm or bearing portion of the axle is provided with a circumferential groove, and the box or sleeve ot' the wheel-hub is provided with a ball, a portion of which enters the said groove, while the opposite portion of the said 2o ball is seated in a cup-shaped recess at the end of' a screw in the hub. In the said patent the screw is provided with a device for turning it, and also for locking the screw or preventing it from being turned after it has been properly adjusted.

In another application tiled herewith Ihave shown a wheel-andaxle coupling in which the axle is grooved and the hub provided with an engaging device seated in ascrew having a 3o novel locking device, and in the present application the invention consists, essentially, in the combination, with the grooved axle and engaging device, of an adjusting and holding screw for the said engaging device connected therewith, and a locking device cooperating with the said screw.

The axleengaging device may be constructed in various different ways, it being adapted to rotate freely around a radial axis, so as to produce but little friction against either side of the groove in the axle.

Figure l. is a longitudinal section of a portion ol an axle and hub connected therewith byacoupling device embodyingthisinvcntion,

and Figs. 2, 3, and L sectional details illustrating different forms of engaging devices.

The axle a, having its arm or bearing p0rtion b provided with a circumferential groove, c, may be substantially as in my former pat- 5o ent, referred to.

The box or bearing-sleeve d is provided with a threadedpassagc containing a screw, c, provided with an engaging device,f, to enter the groove c in the axle, the said engaging device being loosely connected with the said screw, 5 5 so as to rotate freely around the axis thereof, thus producing but little friction against the sides of the groove c.

As shown in Figs. l, 2, 3, the engaging devicef has a neck or shank entering a passage 6o or socket in the screw e, and, as shown in Figs.

l and 3, the said shank is provided with a groove, f', engaged by a pin, f, inserted through the screw c, and thusretaining the engaging device in the screw while permitting it to rotate freeiy therein.

As shown in Fig. 2, the shank of the engaging device is provided with aiiange or collar, f3, engaging a corresponding groove in the screw e, which is shown as split longitudinally 7o to receive the iianged shank within it.

In Fig. 4 the screw e is provided with a projection, e', upon which the engaging device f, made as a pulley or roller, is free to rotate, and the said shank e is slightly headed or np- 7 5 set to retain the said engaging device thereon. The screw c may be turned radially outward sufficiently far to withdraw the engaging device from the groove c, when the hub may be slipped oft from the axle as required, for the 8o purpose of cleaning or lubricating the same.

Vhen the wheel is to be connected with the axle, it is slipped into position thereon, and the screw c turned inward until the engaging devicef comes to abearing in the groove c, its engagement in the said groove being properly adjusted by turning the screw a little one way or the other until the enga-ging device just touches without pressure. Vhen thus adj usted, the screw e is prevented from further 9o movement by a locking-screw, g, preferably having a thread of opposite inclination, or right-handed when the screw c is left-hand threaded, the said screw g being turned so as to press forcibly on the screw c, and thus prevent further movement of the said screw. As shown, in this instance the screw l`r/ is contained in the band It, surrounding the hub, and the screw e may be inserted in its threaded passage from the inside of the hub before the loo `latter is applied to the wheel.

When desired to remove the wheel or to adjust the engaging device f with relation to the groove, the screw gis first removed, affording access to the screw e, which may then be turned as desired.

As shown in Figs. l and 2, the groove c in the axle is rounded or curved in cross-section, and in Figs. 3 and 4, the groove c is square in crosssection, the engaging device being correspondingly shaped.4

The present invention is not limited to the particular form of locking Idevice shown for the screw holding the axle-engaging device, as the said screw, with the loosely-connected rotary axle-engaging device, may be provided with a locking device ysuch as shown in my former patent, or with others that will be readily suggested to those familiar with mechanical construction.

It is not essential to the invention that the axle-engaging device should be attached to the screw, as one feature of the invention consists in theicombination of the grooved axle and the holding-screw in the hub with an axle-'en- 2. The combination of the axle having a circumferential groove with the hub provided with a screw and engaging device loosely connected therewith, adapted to be placed within or removed from the groove of the axle by turning the said screw, and alocking-screw provided with a thread of opposite hand or inclination, substantially as described.

3. The grooved axle and hub combined with an engaging device to enter the said groove, a holding-screw for the engaging device, and locking device for the said screw, the engaging device being retained in connection with its holding-screw and having a free rotary movement in the groove, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the axle having a circumferential groove with the hub provided with ascrew, and engaging device loosely connected therewith, adapted to be placed within or removed from the grooveof the axle by turning the said screw, and a locking device co-operating with the said screw, substantially as described.

v with a socketed screw, and an axle-engaging device having a shank entering and free to rotate in the said screw,.substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBA BRiGGs CARTER.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. FAUNGE, J Aeon B. STEVENS. 

